The team for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is on trial in an appeals case on a charge of being the ringleader of an insurrection related to the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, filed a motion to recuse the trial judges. They argued the trial would proceed unfairly for Yoon because the panel had already found former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo guilty in an earlier case on performing important duties for the insurrection.
Yoon's defense team said on the 13th it filed a motion to recuse the Criminal Division 12-1, the insurrection-exclusive panel of the Seoul High Court (Appellate Judges Lee Seung-cheol, Cho Jin-gu and Kim Min-a), which is hearing the appeal in the insurrection ringleader case.
The defense said, "One cannot expect a fair trial from a judge who publicly announced a prejudgment and bias of guilt." A prosecutor or a defendant may request that a judge be excluded when there is concern the judge will conduct an unfair trial.
Earlier, on the 7th, Criminal Division 12-1 of the Seoul High Court found that the former prime minister performed important duties in Yoon's insurrection and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
Explaining the reason for the recusal motion, the defense said, "The court used specific expressions acknowledging as fact the charges against former President Yoon and, on that premise, issued a ruling recognizing most of Han Duck-soo's charges."
The first hearing in the appeals case on the insurrection ringleader charge against former President Yoon will open on the 14th. In the first trial, the court acknowledged most of the charges against Yoon and sentenced him to life imprisonment.